Memorial honors victims of secretive WWII crash

Memorial honors victims of secretive WWII crash

American soldiers were returning from leave in Australia when plane went down
By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jun 12, 2009 7:59:02 EDT

FORT MYER, Va. — A beach vacation in the midst of World War II turned tragic for 40 U.S. soldiers, and the circumstances of their deaths in a plane crash in Australia was long kept a military secret.

On Thursday, 66 years later, they were honored and their sacrifice commemorated with a monument at Selfridge Gate in the shadow of Arlington National Cemetery.

The ceremony brings “long awaited closure for one of the second World War’s final open chapters,” said Army Secretary Pete Geren, as family members and veterans with a gold sunflower pinned to their chests listened quietly.

The crash on June 14, 1943, at Bakers Creek near Mackay in Queensland, Australia, was the deadliest in Australian history and the worst single plane crash in the Southwest Pacific in World War II, officials said. The transport plane crashed en route to New Guinea, as it was shuttling back troops who had taken leave on the beaches in Australia.

The circumstances were kept classified for 15 years because of “demands of operational security,” Geren said.

The dedication was a culmination of years of work for a group of volunteers called the Bakers Creek Memorial Association who spent years tracking down the relatives to tell them what happened. They then raised money for the memorial and lobbied for a place to put it.
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Memorial honors victims of secretive WWII crash